TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 208, 21 February 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

# " Give me neither poverty nor riches." Our friends at St. Bathans, noted hitherto for their peaceful instincts, and for the power of combination for the general good they have always been able to effect, are now on the verge of a very pretty quarrel among themselves). The Public Channel, it appears, has unexpectedly been found a source of remuneration. Some seven hundred pounds worth of gold has been taken from it—not without expense—and now, Who is to get the money ?—this unexpected bonus —call it what you will. The local party say "We will divide it. Absentees who, it appears, have put money into the work, most barefacedly claim a share. What wonder that St. Bathans is shaken with wrath, and that bosom friends suddenly take to shaking hands when they meet and adopt generally orthodox civilities. Brown button-holes Jones, and says that all along he has had a good opinion of Smith, but now his eyes are opened. Jones says the same of Brown, &c. It really is a pity that such a cause of disturbance should exist. Would it not be better to give the money up, and return to the old peace of primitive times ? No doubt the Hospital would relieve the dispu- j tants of this plethora of wealth. Or,: more seriously, why not get three arbitrators at Naseby or elsewhere to apportion the plunder, instead of wasting the money in senseless litigation? " God Almightie first Planted a Garden, And indeed it is the Purest of Humane pleasures." A mining community—who, by their devastating operations at any rate, do not help to beautify a district—almost owes a debt to Nature to do the best it can by artificial means to create growth and beauty. It is a matter for remark how little this debt is paid. A few private gardens certainly are beginning, to court attraction, and to make some return for the outlay of labor and money expended upon them ; but the public, what have they done ? It is true that, to a certain extent, there has been no person or body on whose shoulders, this duty might have fallen. As far as Naseby is concerned, the Municipality might be able to do something in this matter. Trees are to be had for the asking in plenty, and ground also to put them in. The Athenaeum, corner, the Hospital, the old site held by the school, might be all made use of for planting, enlivening and beautifying the place. The Eecreation Ground—that, bone of contention in the past as it is likely to be in the future—should be dealt with in some shape or another. If it is a necessity that it be used for mining purposes, let it go at once. The ground is shallow, and could be very easily filled up again, and thence made into a pleasure ground, the freehold vesting in the Corporation. If it is to remain a recreation ground, let it be improved. The fence is nearly destroyed—the grass is useless. The whole thing, as it is at present, is not a sign of prosperity likely to give visitors a very favorable impression of Naseby. Other places in the district—- ( St. Pathans, Hyde, Hamilton &c—----might very well plant a little, much to their own comfort and pleasure, for, at the risk of being thought sentimental, we affirm there is a rare purifying pleasure, in the companionship of trees. " The State ! lam the State !" was the remark of the imperious French king. The Waste Lands Board! lam the Board! is the acted language of the Chief Commissioner. It seems to be a, mistake to appoint a man to a position on an important Committee simply for his technical knowledge of official work—knowledge which could be supplied much better by a smart clerk. The utter failure of the new Waste Lands Board is apparent. From their first sitting to that held last week the story has been the same —glaring incompetency and obtrusive partiality. Perhaps the dress may be put on a little better, but the block given up by Mr. Mackenzie to be opened up for sale is only another form of the old throwing away of the country's estate in big blocks to capitalists. The country should insist on this Board being entirely reconstructed, and be content with no less than the burying away for ever out of public sight of antediluvian fossils and official dummyism.